Late Thursday night several images from inside Team Conor McGregor surfaced on-line, and they all made it appear as if Conor McGregor was continuously beating down his boxing champion sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi.
These leaked photos went viral fast, and sent the internet into a tail-spin of speculation and analysis.
One image shows Conor landing a brutal uppercut, another shows Conor smashing Paulie’s face with a solid straight left. The final image in the series of leaked photos showed Malignaggi butt down on the canvas with a postured McGregor towering over him.
These images told a story, one that was great for the UFC champ, but not so good for his new teammate.
In the hours following these photo leaks, MMAImports would learn that Paulie left Conor’s team, and isn’t coming back. Shortly after this revelation, Paulie took to his personal twitter and released the following statement:
“I just wanted to clear the air. I am leaving the McGregor training camp today. I came with the best intentions & intended to help out. Just the chance to be part of such a big event in this capacity excited me. I believe Conor & I have a mutual respect inside the ring, earned from each other with some good work over 2 sparring sessions. It’s some stuff outside the ring and some ways some things were handled in training camp that I didn’t agree with that made me come to this decision. It’s not my place to dictate terms in a training camp that is not mine, but it’s my place to decide if I want to be a part of it. I will not give away anything tactical that I saw in 2 sparring sessions with Conor. For what it’s worth, they have my word. The things that upset me though I will speak about in time. I wish Team McGregor well in the rest of their preparations and look forward to being back in Vegas to work fight week on Showtime.”
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017
